Thai-Cambodian products piloted as GIs in ASEAN

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) -- The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the European Union (EU), and Thailand's Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) have registered Lamphun's silk from Thailand and Cambodian pepper and loaf sugar as part of a piloted project of GI products in ASEAN. The FAO together with EU representatives in Thailand, the French Embassy in Bangkok, and the DIP gave a joint press conference on the registrations of three products from both Thailand and Cambodia as GI products, including the Lamphun Brocade Thai Silk, which was registered in Indonesia, while the pepper from Cambodia's Kampot city and loaf sugar from Kampong Speu province were registered as GI products in Thailand. All three products are the first three to be registered within ASEAN member states as local products with special traits. Deputy representative for the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Jong Jin-Kim said the registrations of the GI products in ASEAN would help create cooperation in intellectual property prevention, while also helping to promote the diverse identities of the region and help to indirectly increase the value of the products, assisting farmers to earn incomes sustainably. Products fit to be registered at GIs must have a different trait from the same type of product produced else where in the country and must be linked with the geographical location and climate of that specific place. (TNA)